The contribution of melt ponds to enhanced Arctic sea-ice melt during the Last Interglacial

<p>The Hadley Centre Global Environment Model version 3 (HadGEM3) is the first coupled climate model to simulate an ice-free Arctic during the Last Interglacial (LIG), 127 000 years ago. This simulation appears to yield accurate Arctic surface temperatures during the summer season. Here, we in...

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Autores principales:	R. Diamond, L. C. Sime, D. Schroeder, M.-V. Guarino
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Copernicus Publications 2021
Materias:	Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/92abfab4973e412c8e2ea2c00d510b64
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:92abfab4973e412c8e2ea2c00d510b642021-11-09T07:59:36ZThe contribution of melt ponds to enhanced Arctic sea-ice melt during the Last Interglacial10.5194/tc-15-5099-20211994-04161994-0424https://doaj.org/article/92abfab4973e412c8e2ea2c00d510b642021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/5099/2021/tc-15-5099-2021.pdfhttps://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424<p>The Hadley Centre Global Environment Model version 3 (HadGEM3) is the first coupled climate model to simulate an ice-free Arctic during the Last Interglacial (LIG), 127 000 years ago. This simulation appears to yield accurate Arctic surface temperatures during the summer season. Here, we investigate the causes and impacts of this extreme simulated ice loss. We find that the summer ice melt was predominantly driven by thermodynamic processes: atmospheric and ocean circulation changes did not significantly contribute to the ice loss. We demonstrate these thermodynamic processes were significantly impacted by melt ponds, which formed on average 8 d earlier during the LIG than during the pre-industrial control (PI) simulation. This relatively small difference significantly changed the LIG surface energy balance and impacted the albedo feedback. Compared to the PI simulation: in mid-June, of the absorbed flux at the surface over ice-covered cells (sea-ice concentration <span class="inline-formula">></span> 0.15), ponds accounted for 45 %–50 %, open water 35 %–45 %, and bare ice and snow 5 %–10 %. We show that the simulated ice loss led to large Arctic sea surface salinity and temperature changes. The sea surface temperature and salinity signals we identify here provide a means to verify, in marine observations, if and when an ice-free Arctic occurred during the LIG. Strong LIG correlations between spring melt pond and summer ice area indicate that, as Arctic ice continues to thin in future, the spring melt pond area will likely become an increasingly reliable predictor of the September sea-ice area. Finally, we note that models with explicitly modelled melt ponds seem to simulate particularly low LIG sea-ice area. These results show that models with explicit (as opposed to parameterised) melt ponds can simulate very different sea-ice behaviour under forcings other than the present day. This is of concern for future projections of sea-ice loss.</p>R. DiamondR. DiamondL. C. SimeD. SchroederM.-V. GuarinoM.-V. GuarinoCopernicus PublicationsarticleEnvironmental sciencesGE1-350GeologyQE1-996.5ENThe Cryosphere, Vol 15, Pp 5099-5114 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5
spellingShingle	Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 R. Diamond R. Diamond L. C. Sime D. Schroeder M.-V. Guarino M.-V. Guarino The contribution of melt ponds to enhanced Arctic sea-ice melt during the Last Interglacial
description	<p>The Hadley Centre Global Environment Model version 3 (HadGEM3) is the first coupled climate model to simulate an ice-free Arctic during the Last Interglacial (LIG), 127 000 years ago. This simulation appears to yield accurate Arctic surface temperatures during the summer season. Here, we investigate the causes and impacts of this extreme simulated ice loss. We find that the summer ice melt was predominantly driven by thermodynamic processes: atmospheric and ocean circulation changes did not significantly contribute to the ice loss. We demonstrate these thermodynamic processes were significantly impacted by melt ponds, which formed on average 8 d earlier during the LIG than during the pre-industrial control (PI) simulation. This relatively small difference significantly changed the LIG surface energy balance and impacted the albedo feedback. Compared to the PI simulation: in mid-June, of the absorbed flux at the surface over ice-covered cells (sea-ice concentration <span class="inline-formula">></span> 0.15), ponds accounted for 45 %–50 %, open water 35 %–45 %, and bare ice and snow 5 %–10 %. We show that the simulated ice loss led to large Arctic sea surface salinity and temperature changes. The sea surface temperature and salinity signals we identify here provide a means to verify, in marine observations, if and when an ice-free Arctic occurred during the LIG. Strong LIG correlations between spring melt pond and summer ice area indicate that, as Arctic ice continues to thin in future, the spring melt pond area will likely become an increasingly reliable predictor of the September sea-ice area. Finally, we note that models with explicitly modelled melt ponds seem to simulate particularly low LIG sea-ice area. These results show that models with explicit (as opposed to parameterised) melt ponds can simulate very different sea-ice behaviour under forcings other than the present day. This is of concern for future projections of sea-ice loss.</p>
format	article
author	R. Diamond R. Diamond L. C. Sime D. Schroeder M.-V. Guarino M.-V. Guarino
author_facet	R. Diamond R. Diamond L. C. Sime D. Schroeder M.-V. Guarino M.-V. Guarino
author_sort	R. Diamond
title	The contribution of melt ponds to enhanced Arctic sea-ice melt during the Last Interglacial
title_short	The contribution of melt ponds to enhanced Arctic sea-ice melt during the Last Interglacial
title_full	The contribution of melt ponds to enhanced Arctic sea-ice melt during the Last Interglacial
title_fullStr	The contribution of melt ponds to enhanced Arctic sea-ice melt during the Last Interglacial
title_full_unstemmed	The contribution of melt ponds to enhanced Arctic sea-ice melt during the Last Interglacial
title_sort	contribution of melt ponds to enhanced arctic sea-ice melt during the last interglacial
publisher	Copernicus Publications
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/92abfab4973e412c8e2ea2c00d510b64
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The contribution of melt ponds to enhanced Arctic sea-ice melt during the Last Interglacial

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